


A Dragon's Dawn

by NotLikeYouThink



Series: Chronicles of a Dragon [4]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Battle Couple, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Dawnguard, Dawnguard Questline, Elsebet Needs Some Rest, F/M, Fort Dawnguard, Idiots in Love, Love, Marriage Proposal, Non-Canonical Character Death, Seriously Nirn, The world is in danger, True Love, Volkihar Vampires - Freeform, and a break, badass couple, but when is it not?, get it together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2019-10-06 15:59:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17348207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotLikeYouThink/pseuds/NotLikeYouThink
Summary: With the horrors of Solstheim behind them, Elsebet Dragonslayer and Rune head for Riften to rejoin the Thieves Guild, now that Elsebet’s duty of saving the world is over. But when they get to Windhelm, they’re attacked by vampires, and rumours that the Hall of the Vigilants was burned down. Approached by an Orc recruiting for the Dawnguard on the road to Riften, they have no choice but to help diminish the rising threat of vampires.But not everything is as it seems. With the finding of an ancient vampire in Dimhollow Crypt, and a prophecy that threatens the sun, Elsebet is again thrown head-first into the action, but this time dragging the man she loves with her.The Tyranny of the Sun is almost upon them, and only the Dragonborn, armed with the bow of the Aedra that gave her her powers, can stop it.





	1. A Grumpy Old Elf

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and reviewing. Thank you all to those that have stuck this far into Elsebet's story, it means the world to me.

“You don’t deserve any of this.”

Elsebet Dragonslayer looked away from Akatosh, and over at the horizon. The sun was high in the sky, whitening the snow the two of them were standing on, and shone all over Skyrim. From where they stood at the top of the Throat of the World, Elsebet could see the beauty of her homeland, and wished she’d never left.

“What Miraak did to you wasn’t fair.”

“None of this is fair,” she said. “Why can’t you just leave me alone? My life was better before you interfered.”

“If I didn’t interfere the world would be destroyed five times over,” he told her. He took a step towards her, his golden eyes looking at her with sadness. “I don’t wish to do this to you, but I have to. I’m sorry. You don’t deserve it.”

Elsebet looked down at her chest, and felt one of her newest scars through the dress she wore. The cut that had been there was deeper than she thought it was, and it ran from one side of her chest to the other.

She was glad Frea had been there to heal her when she was injured by Miraak. If the Skaal woman hadn’t been there, she would’ve been dead.

And Akatosh doesn’t want her dead. Not yet, anyway.

She heard him walk up next to her and place a hand on her shoulder. She glanced at it before looking back at the horizon.

“It’s time to go back,” he said. “I’ll talk to you again soon.”

She nodded, and closed her eyes.

When she opened them, she was lying on a straw mattress, looking at a bookshelf pressed against the wall. Pressed against her back, she could feel the solid presence of Rune, her beloved. She looked over her shoulder at him and stared into his sleeping face, a small smile appearing on her face.

She was lucky to have him. He quieted the voices in her head.

She untangled herself from his arms and stood up from the bed. After pulling her clothes on, she made her way out of the room she and Rune had rented in the Candlehearth Hall and up to the upper floor of it, where all the people sat quietly and ate.

The Dunmer bard smiled at her as she plucked away at her lute, filling the Candlehearth with some low music to have breakfast to. Elsebet sat alone at the hearth of the hall, where a single candle sat, lit with a small flame.

The tavern girl walked up to her and asked her if she wanted anything to eat or drink. Elsebet shook her head and said she was fine. Actually, she was looking for work, and wondered if anyone needed any help.

“Old Nurelion at the White Phial wants to go find the real one, but his assistant Quintus is stopping him,” she said. “Maybe if you got it for him, they’ll pay you.”

Elsebet smiled at the woman and thanked her. With that lead, she went back into her room and got changed into her hide armour, sad that her thieves guild armour had been shredded in her fight against Miraak, and left the Candlehearth alone, leaving Rune to sleep a bit more.

One of the guards gave Elsebet directions to the White Phial, and she made her way there, the summer sun just poking over the high walls of Windhelm.

She was hesitant to stay in Windhelm longer than she had to, because she had made an enemy of its Jarl, Ulfric Stormcloak, and he wasn’t far from where she had slept.

She entered the White Phial, walking into an argument.

“I’ll be fine,” an elderly High Elf man was saying to a redheaded Imperial with sideburns.

“Master, you’re far too old for this sort of journey,” the Imperial, whom she assumed was Quintus, told him. “We don’t know what’s inside…”

“I’ll… I can… just…” The Altmer, Nurelion, started coughing violently.

“You see, you’re not well!” Quintus said after he had stopped. “Have a seat and I’ll fetch you some tonic.”

Nurelion waved his hand in dismissal, but did as his apprentice said. “Bah. If there was a tonic that could help me, I would have found it by now…”

It was then that Quintus saw Elsebet standing at the doorway of the alchemy store, and his eyes widened. “I’m sorry you had to see that. Give me a minute, and I’ll be with you.”

She nodded as Quintus flew to one of the shelves filled with potions and grabbed one, then went into the side room Nurelion had gone into. After about a minute, he was back out, a forced smile on his face as he greeted her.

“What can I do for you?”

“What were you arguing about?” she asked him, an eyebrow raised.

Quintus shook his head. “My master is sick, is all.”

“Bah!” a noise came from inside the side room, and Nurelion came out and leaned on the counter, looking at Elsebet. “Just a man’s life work, is all. I’ve finally derived the location of the White Phial, but this doting busybody won’t let me get it.”

“You’re very sick,” Quintus said to him.

Elsebet shrugged. “If you tell me where it is, I can get it for you.”

The Altmer blinked at her in surprise. “You would do that? It’s good to know there are some people out there who are willing to help an old man.” As he said the last bit, he glanced sidelong at his apprentice. “It’s buried with its maker, Curalmil, in a long forsaken cave to the west of here. Curalmil was a crafty one, even in death. You would need the skills of a master alchemist to reach his resting place. Luckily for you, I’ve already made the mixture.” He pulled something out of the pack on his hip and held it out to her. “Here, take it.”

She did, surveying the bottle as she did. It was a large bottle, with a thick green liquid on the inside. She placed it in her own pack as Nurelion continued speaking.

“Please… don’t dally. I’ve wasted enough time arguing with my useless assistant here.”

“I won’t,” she said. “By the way, what’s the White Phial?”

“It’s a legendary bottle, forged in the days when Skyrim was just starting its turn to ice. A small container, made of the magically infused snow that first fell on the Throat of the World. It is said that the Phial will replenish whatever fluid is placed inside it.”

“Seems useful,” she said.

He nodded. “For an alchemist like myself, it is the most pure expression of art. To create from nothingness is… poetry.”

“And why is it important to you?”

“I have spent my life looking for it,” he said. “It brought me all the way to these frozen reaches from the warm embrace of Summerset Isle. Entire years spent in libraries. Seeking out tiny villages with local legends that contain but a whisper of a hint of the Phial. I even named my shop after it, hoping that it might attract anyone who had heard of it. And now it’s within my grasp… but the Eight, it seems, have chosen me for their amusement… for in my current condition, I’ll never be able to lay my hands on it.”

Elsebet smiled at her. “I promise you, you are not here for the Eight’s amusement. And I will get the Phial for you. You will hold it.”

The old elf smiled at her. “Thank you."

She left the shop, and made her way back to the Candlehearth Hall.

When she got back there, Rune was up and looking for her. When he saw her, he walked over to her and leant down and kissed her, the pressure against her lips a welcome feeling. When they separated, he looked down at her and asked her where she’d been.

“At the alchemy shop, the White Phial. I got us something to do, and we’ll be helping an old Altmer.”

A scowl appeared on his face. “I don’t like Altmer.”

She took a step away from him and elbowed him. “That’s because the only Altmer you know of are the Thalmor. Not all of them are like that. Now get dressed and come on, we’ve got a tomb to explore.”

* * *

The outside of Forsaken Cave, as the people of Anga’s Mill just down the mountain called it, was unassuming, but Elsebet knew not to let that get to her. She’d been in many unassuming places, and all of them had been full of either draugr or machines. 

She didn’t want to survive what she had and then die because she had underestimated a cave.

Stepping over the corpses of two wolves she and Rune had killed just outside the entrance, the two of them pushed through the entrance of the cave, ducking under ice stalactites and into the cave.

Immediately inside the cave Elsebet saw a wagon with a skeleton leaning against it, and she shared a look with Rune, before starting down the slope that went to the right that lead into a small cavern.

Elsebet held her hand up just before she entered the cavern and ducked into a crouch, pulling her bow off her back. She nocked an arrow and pulled back on the string, aiming somewhere deeper inside the cavern, and let it go.

There was a yelping sound and then something collapsed. Entering the cavern properly, Rune saw that it had been a wolf.

“Nice shot,” he told her.

She smiled at him, and lead the way deeper into the cave.

The next cavern had a wolf in it, too, but it was quickly dealt with. They went further into the cave until they reached a part where the ice cave started changing into a Nordic ruin. There were two staircases covered in ice that lead up to wall and nothing else, with a door in the middle.

Elsebet pushed the door open and went down the staircase on the other side, followed by Rune, and then down a wooden spiral staircase. They went down a hall at the bottom of the staircase that twisted and turned deeper into the earth, and when they reached a wider hall with urns lining the walls, the two of them looted them of all their valuables before looting a chest at the end, and encountered their first draugr of the cave.

It was around the corner where the chest was sitting, and Elsebet turned around and shot it as it went to swing at her, and it crumbled onto the floor where it had stood.

Rune stared at it with wide eyes.

Elsebet looked at him. “Are you okay.”

He nodded. “Yeah. Are there going to be more of them?”

“Definitely. Let’s go.”

The next hall went up, with a draugr at the end of it, but it was killed quickly. They went down another hall that was more of a burial hall than anything else, killing draugr and looting urns as they went.

“We make a pretty good team,” Elsebet grinned, after they killed an entire hallway full of draugr.

Rune grinned back at her, and they continued through the cave.

They reached a chamber that was full of sarcophagi, and Elsebet expected them to all open up and unleash a wave of draugr, but they didn’t, with only a single draugr in the middle.

They weaved their way through another series of halls, falling draugr and looting what they could, until they got to a small circular chamber with two draugr. Elsebet shot one of them, while the other one charged at Rune with its weapon raised. It stepped on a large circular disc in the centre of the room and rocketed up, the sound of stone grating on stone filling the air. The stone pillar lowered back into the ground, and they looked up to see the draugr hanging from spikes that were in a hole in the roof.

They grimaced at the site at the same time, and pushed their way through a door, which lead to a caged-in walkway suspended above one of the chambers they had previously left, and into another hall.

The next large hall was inhabited by a draugr, and Rune quickly cut it down with his sword. Another draugr stepped out of a standing sarcophagus around a corner and charged at them, but fell to the ground with an arrow in the eye.

When they got to the end of the hall, they saw a door. Elsebet opened it, triggering a trap, and swinging blades over a small hall.

Elsebet pulled her bow over her shoulder and grabbed Rune by the shoulders. “Don’t panic, and keep your arms by your side.”

“Wha—?”

“ _WULD!_ ”

Elsebet rocketed forward, dragging Rune with her, through the blades so fast they didn’t have time to cut them. When they stopped a metre in front of the swinging blades, Elsebet let Rune go and took a step away from him.

He stared forward, eyes wide with shock, as Elsebet looked around the chamber.

It was definitely the end of the ruin, she thought, as she could see a Word Wall above a sarcophagus, with a staircase on either side leading up to it, and heard the faint chanting that came from it.

“What the fuck?” Rune muttered, still bewildered. “What was that?”

“Whirlwind Sprint,” Elsebet said, taking a step towards the Word Wall, drawn by the power coalescing there.

She took another step forward, and the lid to the sarcophagus in the middle of the room burst open, and a draugr—whom Elsebet assumed was Curalmil, considering it was his tomb—sat up and started climbing out of the sarcophagus.

That seemed to snap Rune out of whatever trance he was in, because he charged at Curalmil, and Elsebet readied her bow and nocked an arrow.

The arrow flew at the draugr and hit him in the chest, but that didn’t stop him from Shouting at her.

“ _FO KRAH DIIN!_ ”

Frost hit Elsebet’s skin, turning her blood to ice. She shivered, shaking off the magic, and shot another arrow at him. Rune slashed at his chest and face, landing whatever blows he could and dodging Curalmil’s attacks with his own sword.

Together, they managed to kill him, and he crumbled onto the ground.

Elsebet immediately turned to the Word Wall that was above his sarcophagus and bolted up the stairs, hand outstretched as the power started coursing through her, and slammed her hand over the glowing word. The tendrils of power curled around her arm and plunged into her chest, awakening the several dragon souls that were inside her. The Word, _Krii_ , collided with Bahkulbel, unlocking the power and causing Elsebet to shiver with ecstasy.

After a minute of standing there, she rejoined with Rune and went down the short tunnel that ran below the Word Wall, where a cracked bottle was sitting proudly on a pedestal.

“This must be it,” Elsebet said, and picked it up.

When she did, a part of the wall in front of her lowered into the ground, revealing a room full of alchemical ingredients. After looting the room, she and Rune went through the passage to the left that lead out of the tomb, and back to Windhelm.


	2. Vampires and Vampire Hunters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long! I've had major writer's block for this story, but hopefully I'll be able to get out of it now, but no promises. This is a short chapter, but it's all I could scrounge out.
> 
> Sorry again!

“ _Five gold pieces_ ,” Elsebet spat out, walking out of the potion shop, Rune on her heels. “He gave us five gold pieces!”

Rune held up the coinpurse Quintus had given him after he found out how much the old Altmer had given them. “At the his assistant was generous enough to give us more.”

“That’s not the point,” she said.

They made their way to the Candlehearth Hall to sleep for the night before they travelled to Riften, the destination they had decided on, as they couldn’t stay in Windhelm. But before they could reach the building, screams sounded ahead of them, in the direction of the main gate.

They gave each other a look and ran towards the screams.

They turned the corner, their weapons in their hands, to see vampires and black dogs attacking the townsfolk and guards.

Elsebet nocked an arrow and shot at the closest vampire. It pierced his neck, and he fell onto his companion, who hissed at his body and cast her drain life spell at the guard in front of her.

One of the black dogs rushed at them as Rune charged forward, sword drawn, and it was downed quickly with an arrow in its face.

It didn’t take long for them to kill the vampires, aided by the guards and a couple foolhardy townsfolk. Putting her bow on her back, Elsebet panted, and was confused.

When did the vampires get brave enough to attack a city?

“You there.”

She and Rune turned around to see an Orc in brown armour she’d never seen before walk up to them, placing a strangely-shaped axe in his belt.

“The Dawnguard is looking for anyone willing to fight against the growing vampire menace. What do you say?”

“Vampire menace?” Elsebet asked, confused. “I haven’t noticed any vampire menace.”

He scoffed. “You’re not paying attention then. Like most everyone else around here. Haven’t you heard that the Hall of the Vigilants was destroyed by vampires? They never took the threat seriously, and now they’ve paid the price.”

“We’ve been in Solstheim the past couple months,” she told him. “It’s kind of hard for news to travel there.”

“Then consider this that news. What do you say?”

A grin spread across her face, and glanced over at Rune.

“You want to do it, don’t you?” he asked, a slight grin on his face.

She nodded. “Yes! I get to kill things, and you know how much I like to kill things.”

It was true. They hand’t been together for long, but he could already tell how much she loved to kill things. And just how high her bloodlust was at certain points.

“Ha,” the Orc said. “Isran’s going to like you. Go talk to him at Fort Dawnguard, southeast of Riften. He’ll decide if you’re Dawnguard material.”

* * *

“Southeast?” Arcaelo asked, nursing a flagon of ale, a confused look on her face. “There’s not much that’s out there.”

“Well, what is?” Elsebet asked. She felt strange, sitting in the Ragged Flagon without her Thieves Guild Armour, but that had been destroyed, so she was stuck with her hide.

The Imperial thought for a moment. “Well, there’s the Black-Briar Lodge, which you want to stay clear of. I’ve been pissing Maven off lately, trying to get us out from under her thumb, and I doubt she’d have any reservations to see any of us dead. Remember, she has the Dark Brotherhood at her disposal. Forelhost, Broken Helm Hollow, Stendarr’s Beacon—there’s also that old fort that’s been sitting empty for years. Forgot the name of it.”

“Fort Dawnguard?” Rune asked.

She nodded. “Yeah, that’s it. How’d you know that?”

“That’s where we’re headed,” Elsebet said. “Do you know how to get to it?”

“Follow the road southeast. On the border to Morrowind you’ll find a path leading through a crack in the rock—don’t worry, it’s not a cave. It’s the entrance to a place called Dayspring Canyon. The Fort lies at the back of that.”

Elsebet smiled at her. “Thanks, Arcaelo.”

“I’m happy to help.”

The two of them left the Flagon through the Cistern, making sure to close the secret entrance behind them, and left through the eastern gate, where Elsebet knew the road wound east. They nodded at the guards on either side as they passed through, and trekked down the road leading to the canyon Arcaelo had told them about.

They found Dayspring Canyon fairly easily, only having to backtrack once they got to the border to Morrowind, which was being guarded by Stormcloak Soldiers. They apologised and turned back, finding the entrance then.

They entered the canyon, the shade on the inside cold enough to chill Rune’s bones. They traversed down the winding canyon with high cliffs on either side of them, blocking any sunlight from reaching them. It opened up into a beautiful landscape, with tall trees and a semi-frozen waterfall in front of them, falling into a lake partially covered in ice.

On the path in front of them was a blonde haired Nord, who turned to look at them as they approached. He waved at them, a smile on his face.

“Oh, hey there! You here to join the Dawnguard, too?”

Elsebet nodded and smiled back at him, and they fell into step beside him, walking up to Fort Dawnguard together.

The entire way he rambled on about how he was nervous, not really leaving any time for them to talk back. When they got far enough into the canyon that they saw the fort, Elsebet was at a loss for words, anyway.

Arcaelo didn’t say it was that big.

The Fort sat in the back of the canyon, towers and parapets littered across the clearing it was situated in. Arches adorned the towers, and the road wound around to the far wall and back to the entrance of the fort, where a Breton man stood in armour similar to the Orc’s.

“I guess this is it,” the man, Agmaer, as he introduced himself as, said. “Wish me luck.”

“New recruits?” the Breton asked when they got close enough. “Hmm. Isran will decide if you’ve got what it takes. Go on, he’s right inside.”

They did, pushing open the heavy doors and entering the fort. As they did, the voices of two men filled the air.

“Why are you here, Tolan?” the first asked, deep and gravelly. A couple steps forward showed that it came from a Redguard man. “The Vigilants and I were finished with each other a long time ago.”

“You know why I’m here,” the Nord that accompanied him said. “The Vigilants are under attack everywhere. The vampires are much more dangerous than be believed.”

“And now you want to come running to safety with the Dawnguard, is that it? I remember Keeper Carcette telling me repeatedly that Fort Dawnguard is a crumbling ruin, not worth the expense and manpower to repair. And now that you’ve stirred up the vampires against you, you come begging for my pardon?”

The Vigilant sighed deeply. “Isran, Carcette is dead. The Hall of the Vigilants… everyone… they’re all dead. You were right, we were wrong. Isn’t that enough for you?"

The man, Isran, blinked at him in surprise. “Yes, well… I never wanted any of this to happen. I tried to warn all of you… I am sorry, you know.” 

He turned to where Elsebet, Rune, and Agmaer were standing—well, where Elsebet and Rune were standing. Agmaer was staying back at the entrance, his nerves probably too riled up to do anything.

“So who are you?” Isran asked. “What do you want?”

“Heard you were looking for vampire hunters,” Elsebet said, her arms crossed over her chest.

He nodded. “You heard right. I’m glad word’s finally starting to get around. But that means it won’t be long before the vampires start to take notice as well.”

“What can we do to help?” Rune asked.

“I need people out in the field, taking the fight to the damn vampires, while we’re getting the fort back into shape… Tolan was telling me about some cave that the Vigilants were poking around in. Seemed to think it was related to these recent vampire attacks.” Isran turned to Tolan. “Tolan, tell them about, what was it, Dimhollow?”

The Vigilant nodded. “Yes, that’s it. Dimhollow Crypt. Brother Adalvald was sure it held some long-lost vampire artefact of some kind.” He sighed sadly. “We didn’t listen to him more than we did Isran. He was at the Hall when it was attacked…”

The Redguard nodded and turned back to Elsebet and Rune. “That’s good enough for me. Go see what the vampires were looking for in this Dimhollow Crypt. With any luck, they’ll still be there.”

Elsebet wasn’t known for luck—or was it all she was known for?—but she nodded.

He walked over to one of the nearby crates that were pushed against the wall and opened one of them. He pulled out two strange-looking bows, and two quivers. He walked back to them and handed them over.

“Here, you should take a crossbow each. Good for taking out those fiends before they get close.”

Rune held his crossbow to his face to see how it worked while Elsebet gave hers back. “I have a normal bow, thanks.”

“Yeah, and she’s awesome with it,” her partner said, lowering the crossbow. “I don’t know how to use this.”

Isran went through a quick tutorial, showing him how to load the arrow and fire it. It took several seconds to, and it was very clunky, but he placed it on his belt and thanked the man in front of him.

“Come on, I’ll show you where Dimhollow is,” Tolan said, and led the way out of the fort and onto the road leading out of Dayspring Canyon, just as Isran called Agmaer over to get him tested.


	3. More Vampires

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no excuse. But here's chapter 3

Dimhollow Crypt was situated halfway up a mountain that sat on the border of Hjaalmarch and the Pale, and Vigilant Tolan led Elsebet and Rune into the cold cave, a torch in his hand.

Elsebet had her bow in her hand, her hide boots crunching on the snow that littered the ground, her eyes peeled for anything that could hurt them. The narrow entrance of the cave opened up into a wide cavern, and she could hear the voices of two people talking to each other. Her eyes scanned the cavern, but couldn’t find the sources of the voices.

Swearing, she started down the natural ramp that would take her to a not-so-natural iron gate, trying to find the sources of the voices. Unfortunately for her, Tolan didn’t get that she was trying to be sneaky, so as soon as he heard the voices, he pulled his mace off his belt and started running towards the voices.

Grumbling, she quickly shot at a weird-looking dog that lunged at Tolan, piercing its ribcage. But unlike a normal dog, it didn’t go down. No, instead it turned to her and let out a snarling growl before running up the ramp towards her, like it hadn’t been shot in the first place.

It took three more arrows to fell the beast, and by the time it did, Rune had jumped into the fight with the two people—who were actually vampires—and Tolan was lying on the floor, his blood spilling across the snow.

She moved so she was in view of the vampires and let loose another arrow, which hit the one on the right in the chest. He stumbled back and fell to his knees, and another arrow pierced his neck as Rune stabbed the other vampire through the chest.

Elsebet made her way over and knelt down next to Tolan’s body, her fingers going to his pulse in his neck. Not feeling anything, she unsheathed one of the dagger on Rune’s belt and held it to his nose to see if he was still breathing.

He wasn’t.

Sighing, she gave the dagger back to Rune and stood up. 

“He’s dead,” Rune muttered.

“He was an idiot for rushing in,” Elsebet said, pushing her emotions down. She had learned that emotions only get in the way, and this time was no different.

She made her way to the dog-like creature she had killed, with four elven arrows pointing out of its body, and saw that it had rotted flesh, like a draugr, and as black as night. Small wisps of black smoke came off its body, and its eyes were a blood red.

“What the fuck is this?” she muttered to herself.

“A death hound.”

She looked over at Rune, who stood not far from her. “What?”

“It’s a death hound. I read somewhere once that vampires like using them as pets.”

“No kidding.” She stood up and went to the gate that blocked their way forward. “Try and find a lever or pull chain or something. There has to be something that opens it.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Can’t you become see-through and walk through it?”

“That’s not how Become Ethereal works,” she said, eyes moving around the large hole the gate sat in, but not finding anything. Which was unusual, because the things that opened gates and the like were always next to it.

She started looking further away from the gate than she usually would, casting a candlelight spell so she could look in the small nooks and crannies of the cavern. It was at that point she found the old fort-like structure on the other side of the cavern.

She made her way there, with Rune looking after her, and entered the dilapidated building. She climbed the steps, picking up the elven enchanted sword that laid in a sarcophagus, and made her way to the slit window on the first floor of the tower. Next to it, was a pull chain.

She pulled it and made her way back to the gate, and saw it was open. She entered through the portcullis first, her bow held tightly in her hand, and stepped as lightly as she could. She went down the staircase, around a corner with roots growing from the stone floor, and through a small hall that led to another cavern, this one longer than the last one, with a packed dirt floor.

A river ran through the centre of it, and sarcophagi lay haphazardly on the small banks.

As soon as the two of them entered the chamber, the rattling of bones filled the air, and skeletons began climbing out of the small stream. The first one had an arrow in it before it could fully stand up, shattering into a pile of bones.

The second and third skeletons got their weapons drawn before they shattered, and Rune charged for the forth one. Someone growled on the other side of the chamber, and a vampire jumped down a set of stairs and threw a spell at Elsebet. She dodged it and drew an arrow from her quiver, and let it soar towards the vampire. She was felled with an arrow in the chest and another in her neck.

Two more skeletons shambled down the stairs, one with a bow in its hand. Rune headed for the closest one, his sword breaking its rib bones and causing it to crumble. Elsebet’s arrow hit the second skeleton’s head, causing it to detach and fly into the stairs behind it. Its body crumbled to the ground.

The next room was empty, full of sarcophagi but no enemies. An iron gate blocked the path forward, but it was opened with a lever. In the small burial room behind the gate, a vampire and a draugr were fighting, a death hound nipping at its heels. Elsebet pulled an arrow out of her quiver and nocked it, pulling the string back to the corner of her mouth, and went to fire it at the vampire when Rune placed a hand on her arm. She glanced over at him, an eyebrow raised in question.

“Let’s wait until one kills the other,” he whispered into her ear, “then we can get rid of who’s left.”

She nodded and let her bowstring slacken, but kept the arrow resting on the bow.

Not surprisingly, the vampire won. Though he looked very bloody, his death hound growling softly at the now-dead corpse.

She pulled back on the bowstring and aimed the arrow at the vampire’s heart. It struck true, sending the vampire back a couple feet before he fell to the ground. The death hound turned to them, its red eyes glowing in the shadowy corner it stood in, and started running at them. An arrow hit it in its mouth, and it skidded on the ground, dead.

The crypt continued forward through an iron gate, opened with a pull chain. Behind it was a thin dirt and stone passage that wound around before it opened into another chamber, this one the biggest by far, a pond in the centre with a waterfall flowing into it. Poking up from the shallow depths were the tops of cairns.

Elsebet and Rune fought their way through skeletons and another vampire, and a turning hall full of cobwebs and frostbite spiders. They quickly downed a vampire that had just taken down a giant spider, and pushed open a small door.

They found themselves on a balcony of sorts. They could hear two men talking, one obviously a vampire, the other probably the vigilant that Vigilant Tolan had told them about on their way to the crypt, judging on his praising Stendarr and such.

They crept up to the decrepit railing of the balcony and looked down on the massive cavern. The floor was covered in water, too deep to see the bottom, with a large platform rising from the middle of it. There was a bridge leading towards them, and the two vampires that were now talking over the corpse of a half-naked Nord.

The two vampires turned and started making their way to the staircase that would lead to the balcony Elsebet and Rune stood on. Silently, Elsebet nocked an arrow and aimed it at the vampire that seemed to be in charge, Lokil. The arrow sailed through the air, hitting him in the shoulder.

Both vampires turned to her immediately, and Rune stood up, unsheathing his sword, and charged down the stairs at the vampires as Elsebet let loose another arrow. Rune cut down the second vampire, a woman, as a third and forth arrow hit Lokil, finally downing him after a fifth one.

Elsebet climbed down the stairs and joined Rune, and together they made their way to the body of Vigilant Adalvald.

“Seems like he outlived his usefulness,” Elsebet said.

Rune nodded.

They made their way to the centre platform, killing a thrall that stood on the bridge connecting the two platforms.

To say the platform was strange would be an understatement.

There were deep lines carved into the floor, forming four circles around a single stone monolith, five braziers surrounding it with deep lines carved underneath them, almost like they moved. Three skeletons littered the ground.

Elsebet and Rune shared a look before Elsebet pulled her bow over her shoulder and approached the monolith, Rune close on her heels.

The monolith came up to their waists, with a button on the top stained with blood. Elsebet didn’t know why, but she wanted to press it.

So she extended her right hand and pressed it.

It was quickly followed with a stabbing pain and a shrill scream as a large spike rose from the button and stabbed her through the hand before lowering back down, leaving a large hole in her hand. She felt blood rush out of the wound and trickle onto the stone monolith as purple flames sprouted from the innermost circle of the platform. 

Rune grabbed her hand as blood kept leaving her body, and she started feeling faint. Her head felt heavy, and the ground started swaying beneath her, and she collapsed into Rune’s side. Then a warm feeling spread through her body, starting at the wound in her hand and climbing through her veins until it hit her heart, and it separated into different streams, filling her entire being.

When she opened her eyes, the world was no longer spinning.

She glanced down at her hand and saw the scar where there had once been a hole. She looked up at Rune and smiled, reaching the healed hand up to his cheek and pulling him down for her to kiss him. His hands went to the sides of her face, deepening the kiss and moving his lips on hers.

When they finally parted, it was only because they needed to breathe. Well, Rune needed to breathe. Elsebet could hold her breath longer than most people because of her being part dragon.

“What’s this fire?” Elsebet asked, taking a step towards it. She passed her hand through it, but it was cold, and tickled where it touched her skin. “It doesn’t hurt.”

Rune stepped through it. “There’s more over here.”

She stepped through it as well, the tingling feeling covering her entire body, and saw that he was right. The fire extended onto one of the lines, passing over a brazier. She walked up to it, placing her hands on the side of it, and pushed it to see if it did, indeed, move. With a bit of force, it did.

She kept pushing until the brazier hit the end of the line, and the fire. With a _whoosh_ ing sound, the brazier lit up with purple fire, and more sprouted to the left, following the lines on the floor.

With the help of Rune, Elsebet pushed all the braziers into the correct spots, and the fire connected back with the first brazier. When it did, a loud grinding sound filled the entire cavern, echoing off the high ceilings. The platform shook underneath them, and the stone they were standing on lowered as the ground around the monolith split into five and opened into a purple void, the same colour as the fire, and a large monolith rose from the depths before the ground returned. More grinding, and the front of the monolith disappeared into the stone floor.

Inside was a very pale woman with black hair, arms crossed over her chest, and what looked like an Elder Scroll peeking out over her shoulder. Her eyes fluttered open, and she fell forward, onto her hands and knees, and she shakily pushed herself to her feet, swaying slightly as she held onto the side of the monolith—what was now apparently a tomb of some kind.

She looked at Elsebet and Rune with hooded eyes, and spoke, her voice scratchy with misuse. “Unh… where is… who sent you here?”

It was then that the two of them saw the woman’s eyes shone red like blood. Strange on a Nord. But not a vampire.

“Who were you expecting?” Elsebet asked cautiously, gripping her bow tightly.

“I was expecting… someone like me, at least.”

“Are you a…” Rune trailed off.

The woman nodded. “Vampire, yes.”

“The Dawnguard would want us to kill you,” Elsebet said.

“Not fond of vampires, are they?” she asked, an eyebrow raised. “Well, look. Kill me, you’ve killed one vampire. But if people are after me, there’s something bigger going on. I can help you find out what that is.”

Elsebet and Rune shared a look, uncertainty on their faces. After a silent conversation between them, Elsebet said, “Where do you need to go?”

“My family used to live on an island to the west of Solitude. I would guess they still do. By the way… my name is Serana. Good to meet you.”

“I’m Elsebet. This is Rune. Hopefully you don’t try to kill us on the way. It’ll go bad for you.”


	4. Castle Volkihar

A bridge on the other side of the platform started Elsebet, Rune, and Serana on their way out of the crypt. But almost immediately after they passed over it, two statues burst into life and attacked them.

After they were dealt with, Elsebet asked Serana what they were.

“Gargoyles,” the vampire said. “They can turn their skin to stone and lie in wait for their prey.”

“Lovely,” Rune muttered.

A natural stone ramp lead them up to a door, a stairwell and passage behind it. It opened up into a small chamber with a couple sarcophagi in it, several braziers lighting the room up dimly. In the centre of the room was a lever, most likely connected to the iron gate up a staircase to the left.

Elsebet pulled it, causing all the sarcophagi to open and draugr and skeletons to step out. Elsebet managed to kill a couple draugr while Rune and Serana killed the rest. Serana managed to scare Elsebet by not telling her that she liked to enthral dead things, and hearing the shambling corpse of something she had killed made her jump out of her skin.

Elsebet led the way through the iron gate and into a massive cavern on the other side. There were several tiers carved into the stonework, like large stairs leading to a central fireplace. They heard the creaks and groans of skeletons and draugr come from inside, and Elsebet could hear a faint chanting permeating from the other side of the room—there was a Word Wall nearby.

“I don’t like the look of this…” Serana muttered.

Elsebet pulled an arrow out of her quiver and nocked it, pulling back the bowstring and aiming at what she figured was a draugr that was sitting down. She let the arrow fly, and it hit its mark in the chest, but it stood up, pulled its battleaxe off its back, and shambled down the stairs next to it.

Around them, skeletons moved.

Elsebet let loose arrows as Rune and Serana went into close-quarters combat with them, Serana’s undead (again) draugr attacking its fellow undead. But there were so many, Elsebet would have to get her sword into them as well.

Sighing dramatically, she pulled her bow over her head and took a couple steps towards the railing of the balcony she stood on.

“ _FEIM!_ ”

She felt her skin change as she became ethereal, and she grasped the wooden railing and vaulted over it. She fell, landing on her feet, and grabbed the handles of her swords, Chillrend and Dragonbane, feeling the effect leave as she pulled the two weapons out of the sheathes and started hacking and slashing at all the skeletons and draugr that came after them.

With the final enemy downed, and slipping her swords back into their sheathes, she scrambled up the stairs that led her closer and closer to the Word Wall that was halfway up the stairs, her hand outstretched.

Her hand planted itself on the wall, and she gasped as the power of the Shout filled her soul, tendrils of light snaking and curling around her arm and pooling into her chest.

Behind her, she heard Serana ask Rune what was going on. He told her she was the Dragonborn.

* * *

“Is this it?” Elsebet asked as the three of them approached the dilapidated docks, her hair blowing around in the strong wind coming off the Sea of Ghosts. Next to the docks was a small boat, the wood rotted over time, but still sturdy enough to hold them.

Serana nodded, and pointed to the outline of the castle in the distance. “It’ll take us to my home.”

“You live in a castle?” Rune asked, staring at it forlornly.

The vampire nodded. “Yup. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to judge me.”

“I want a castle,” he muttered.

They climbed into the boat and took turns rowing out to the island. When they got to the old jetty that was on the island, they climbed out, and Serana grabbed Elsebet’s elbow to stop her walking up to the front gate.

“Hey, so… before we go in there…”

“What is it?” Elsebet asked, pulling her elbow out of her grip.

“I wanted to thank you for getting me this far,” she said, wrapping her arms around her torso. “But after we get in there, I’m going to go my own way for a while. I think… I know your friends would probably want to kill everything in here. I’m hoping you can show some more control than that. Once we’re inside, just keep quiet for a bit. Let me take the lead.”

Elsebet nodded, and Serana smiled at her thankfully. She took the lead, something Elsebet wasn’t used to, and let her and Rune trail behind her.

As they approached the gate leading inside, an elderly Nord man berated them for being at the castle, telling them to turn back. But when his eyes landed on Serana, they widened. “Lady Serana, is that you? After all this time?” He turned around and shouted for the gates to be opened.

They arose slowly as the watchman stared at Serana in awe, like he couldn’t believe she was back. They walked under the gate and pushed open the doors leading inside the castle, Elsebet still lagging behind Serana with Rune, who had interlaced his fingers with hers. She smiled at him gratefully and squeezed his fingers with hers, telling him she was okay.

When they entered the castle they were stopped by an Altmer vampire. He bared his fangs at them, which made Elsebet’s fingers itch to stab him with Chillrend, the only thing stopping her being Rune’s hand holding tightly onto hers.

“How dare you trespass here!” the vampire cried at them. He blinked then, taken aback as Serana took a step forward and lowered the hood she had used to protect her skin from the sun. “Wait… Serana? Is it truly you? I cannot believe my eyes!” He turned around and ran towards the other side of the room, where an empty doorway marked the beginning of what Elsebet believed was the main hall, stopping at the balcony set above the hall. “My Lord! Everyone! Serana has returned!”

Serana smiled at Elsebet and Rune half-heartedly as murmurs and whispers filtered in through the entryway. “I guess I’m expected.”

She led the way through the doorway and down the steps, and Elsebet saw that it was indeed the main hall, the side walls lined with tables, three tables making a ‘U’ shape in the middle of the room, the one opposite the balcony sitting upon a raised dias. Vampires sat in every chair, each of them eyeing the trio with amusement and wonder, blood trickling down from the corners of their mouths. Sitting on top of the tables were bowls and plates full of fresh meat, chalices filled to the brim with blood, and even live people lying atop the wooden benches, moaning softly, their chests rising and falling so shallowly it took Elsebet a second to realise they were even moving at all. One vampire still had her mouth latched to one of their upper arms, eyes locked on Elsebet’s, almost like she was daring her to do something.

And in the middle of it all was one vampire with jet black hair standing tall, standing from the throne behind the raised table, a thinly veiled look of curiosity adorning his face as he stared at Serana, eyes blazing a fiery red.

Elsebet had no doubt that this was Serana’s father.

“My long-lost daughter returns at last,” he said, his voice sickly smooth, a lull to his voice that hid a more sinister tone, one Elsebet could only hear because she herself had spoken like that to those she didn’t trust. “I trust you have my Elder Scroll?”

Serana stopped in the middle of the cluster of tables, back straight, hands balled into fists at her sides, teeth clenched as she spoke. “After all these years, that’s the first thing you ask me?” She glared at her father. “Yes, I have the Scroll.”

Murmurs erupted throughout the hall again, eyes now focused on the large yellow cylinder mounted on her back. A hand held up by Serana’s father silenced them.

He started slowly rounding the table, his fingers running against the wood craftsmanship. “Of course I’m delighted to see you, my daughter. Must I really say the words aloud? Ah, if only your traitor mother were here, I would let her watch this reunion before putting her head on a spike. Now tell me, who are these strangers you have brought into these halls?” He stopped several feet in front of his daughter, and sent a look of contempt at Elsebet and Rune, lip pulled back to show his fanged teeth.

“These are my saviours,” Serana said, “the ones who freed me.”

Her father nodded, and turned towards them, bowing his head slightly in gratitude, though still looked at them with contempt. “For my daughter’s safe return, you have my gratitude. Tell me, what are your names?”

“I’m Elsebet Dragonslayer and this is my partner, Rune,” Elsebet said, hand still in Rune’s. “Who are you?”

He stood up straight and hummed lowly. “I am Harkon, lord of this court. By now, my daughter will have told you what we are.”

“You’re vampires,” Rune said, eyes flitting from vampire to vampire that sat in the large hall.

Lord Harkon hummed again. “Not just vampires. We are among the oldest and most powerful vampires in Skyrim.”

At the word _powerful_ , Elsebet’s skin crawled, like the dragon souls inside her wanted the power the Lord said he possessed.

Power. A dangerous thing to have around her. Especially when it can be taken away from you.

“For centuries we’ve lived here, far from the cares of the world,” Lord Harkon continued, hands behind his back as he slowly paced in front of them. “All that ended when my wife betrayed me and stole away that which I valued most.”

“Do we get a reward for finding your daughter?” Elsebet asked, an eyebrow raised. Knowing what she was thinking, Rune tightened his grip on her hand, warning her to stay levelheaded.

Lord Harkon chuckled, stopping in front of her, the look of contempt finally gone, replaced by humour and a smirk of his lip. “I was about to suggest that very thing. Yes, you most certainly deserve a reward. There is but one gift I can give that is equal in value to the Elder Scroll and my daughter.” He spread his hands out and took a step back from her, gesturing to all the vampires around them. “I offer you my blood. Take it, and you will walk as a lion among sheep. Men will tremble at your approach, and you will never fear death again.”

“What if we refuse your gift?” Rune asked, taking a step forward and putting Elsebet behind him.

Lord Harkon’s smirk turned into a cruel grin as he lowered his arms to his side. Then you will be prey, like all mortals. I will spare your life this once, but you will be banished from this hall.” His voice suddenly turned cruel, and a scowl formed on his face as his voice bellowed, echoed by the high ceilings of the hall. “Perhaps you still need convincing? Behold the power!”

He bent over and started grunting, black smoke erupting from his skin, as black as the Void, twisting and curling around him until it covered him completely—and then, like from a cocoon, he burst out of the inky blackness a changed man. His skin was a bluish-grey, like a pale Dunmer, but he was far from it. Boney wings protruded from his back, devoid of feathers, the skin between the bones all but gone, and his face was one she recognised, from months back, from before she had even joined the Thieves Guild or met Rune—it was the same face that was carved into the alter of Molag Bal underneath the abandoned house in Markarth, except this one was alive and moving. And coming off his shoulders was a ragged cape, held there by a chest piece that looked like gold, another one hanging from his waist.

“This is the power that I offer! Now, make your choice!”

He grunted as Rune looked over his shoulder at his lover, seeing the temptation in her eyes, the incessant need of power that bloomed from the dragon soul she had possessed since birth. He reached up with the hand that wasn’t in hers and cupped the side of her face, pushing it so she was looking at her.

At the break of eye contact with Harkon, the lust of power left her eyes, and she blinked. Rune raised his eyebrows in a silent question, and Elsebet shook her head, looking back over at the vampire, Rune’s hand lowering back to his side.

“I’m Dragonborn—I’m already a lion among sheep,” she told him, defiance in her eyes and in the way her back straightened. “We don’t want your ‘gift’.”

Harkon snarled, lip curled back to reveal wickedly sharp teeth. “So be it,” he said, his voice filled with venom. “You are prey, like all mortals. I banish you!”

He rose into the air, a blue orb of magic appearing in his right hand. He threw it at Rune and Elsebet, and it engulfed them, covering them in electricity.

They felt a jolt, and the blue disappeared, showing that they were now outside the castle, at the little dock with the rotting boat.

Elsebet blinked, and let out a shaky sigh, the dragon inside her disappointed at the lack of new power inside her.

Rune let go of her hand and and brought both of his to her neck, cradling her head in his hands as he rubbed a thumb over her cheek. “You made the right decision.”

She sighed again. “I hope so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for waiting for this chapter! Now that I've actually started the questline properly and chosen which side they're gonna do, I can finally get myself to write! So expect more chapters, because I'm planning on writing all day in between binging Britain's Got Talent.
> 
> Fun fact: This chapter and the last have the same exact wordcount--2,343!


	5. Back to Fort Dawnguard

The sun filtered through the loose boards in Breezehome, casting light and shadows on the two bodies sprawled on the bed. Rune twirled one of Elsebet’s red locks around his fingers as she slept, her chest rising and falling rhythmically underneath the fur pelts that decorated the bed. He stared at her in the morning light, at the beauty and serenity her face held, now that she’s asleep and her mind wasn’t plagued by the horrors she had witnessed that showed on her body in the form of scars.

He traced his fingers down her cheek, where four long lines were engraved into her skin, pale and thin and, to anyone else, marring her skin. Skin that, despite the acne and pimples that dotted her forehead and down the side of her face, was still perfect to him.

He wouldn’t change anything about her. In any lifetime, in any form, he would love her, just as furiously as he did now.

If only he had the courage to tell her.

She moved under his fingers, her eyes blinking open. She raised a hand to shield herself from the sunlight that streamed into the bedroom, and she looked over at Rune.

“What’re you doing?” she asked, her two different coloured eyes squinting at how bright the room was.

_This is your chance,_ he told himself, his fingers still trailing down her cheek. _Tell her the truth_.

And so he did.

“I love you.”

Her face froze, and stared at him. Her brow was furrowed, and it looked like her heart had stopped.

And then she smiled, and she raised her hand to caress his cheek. “I love you too, Rune. More than you know.”

She guided his head to hers with her hand, and kissed him slowly, gently, with a passion she hadn’t kissed him with before. Her lips moved on his and he savoured the taste, running his tongue over her bottom lip.

She pulled away, not even an inch, and looked at him in the eyes. “You silence the voices in my head.”

* * *

When they got back to Fort Dawnguard—after their brief stopover in Whiterun to finally sleep in a proper bed, which ended with their confessions of love—it was being attacked by vampires. Isran and the other Dawnguard members were already fighting them, attacking them with crossbows, swords, axes, and magic.

The remaining vampires were dead within a minute after Elsebet and Rune joined the fight, and Isran walked over to them as he sheathed his warhammer.

“Look at this,” he said, looking at the bodies of the vampires at their feet. “I should’ve known it was only a matter of time before they found us. It’s the price we pay for openly recruiting. We’ll have to step up our defences. I don’t suppose you have good news for me.”

“We have news,” Elsebet said, “but I wouldn’t call it good.”

He sighed deeply. “Of course. Why did I suppose differently? Fine, tell me what you know.”

“The vampires were looking for a woman trapped in Dimhollow,” Rune told him.

The Redguard blinked at them, surprised, which Elsebet gathered didn’t happen often. “A woman? Trapped in there? That doesn’t make any sense. Who is she? More importantly, where is she?”

“She wanted to go home, so we took her to her castle,” Elsebet told him, crossing her arms over her chest and straightening her back.

“I’m waiting to hear what any of this means,” he drawled.

“They also have an Elder Scroll,” Rune supplied.

Isran’s eyes widened, and he looked furious. “They _what?_ And you didn’t _stop_ them? You didn’t secure the Scroll?”

“We’re lucky we made it out of there alive,” Elsebet said. “They could have killed us but let us go because we returned her.”

He sighed, calming down. “Right. So they have this woman, and an Elder Scroll. By the Divines, this couldn’t get much worse. This is more than you and I can handle.”

“We have to do something,” Rune said.

“Well of course we do,” Isran scoffed, like the notion of him giving up offended him. “I’m old, not stupid. We’re just going to need some help. If they’re bold enough to attack us here, then this may be bigger than I thought. I have good men here, but… There are people I’ve met and worked with over the years. We need their skills, their talents, if we’re going to survive this. If you can find them, we might have a chance.”

“Where can we find them?” Elsebet asked, letting her arms fall to her sides.

He smirked. “Right to the point, aren’t you? I like that. Not like those fools in the order. We should keep it small. Too many people, and we’ll draw unwanted attention to ourselves. I think we’ll want Sorine Jurard. Breton girl, whip-smart and good with tinkering. Fascinated with the Dwemer. Weapons in particular. Last I knew, she was out in the Reach, convinced she was about to find the biggest dwarven ruins yet.”

“She’ll help us?” Rune asked.

He hesitated. “Might need a little convincing, but she should. You’ll also want to find Gunmar. Big brute of a Nord, hates vampires almost as much as I do. Got it into his head years back that his experience with animals would help. Trolls in particular, from what I heard. Last I knew he was out on Solstheim, looking to see which of those creatures he could tame. Bring the two of them back here, and we can get started on coming up with a plan.”

Elsebet felt the blood run out of her face, and her head felt like it was spinning, the world tinting around her. Rune wrapped his arm around her shoulders as her knees started to buckle underneath her.

Isran’s brow wrinkled. “Everything okay?”

“Y-yeah,” Elsebet stammered. “Just some bad memories on Solstheim. I’m fine. But, wouldn’t it be better if you sent out two teams? So that we’re not gone for weeks.”

Isran hummed, thinking. “Okay. Come with me.”

He turned on his heel and made his way inside Fort Dawnguard, into the large chamber Elsebet and Rune had met him in. There was a female Bosmer unpacking crates that had previously been pushed against teh round walls, and the Breton that had greeted them outside the Fort when they first got there was counting crossbow bolts that sat in a metal quiver. He looked up as the three of them entered the fort, and nodded at them. Elsebet nodded back.

Isran led them further through the fort, to a large dining hall where several men and women were eating and chatting amongst themselves. Elsebet could see Agmaer talking to a Breton man, both of them in a red armour similar to the grey armour Isran was wearing. She’d have to see if Isran could get her a set, as hide armour wasn’t really the best protection against vampires.

Surprisingly, Isran led her and Rune to Agmaer and the Breton, whom she could now see had the bluest eyes she had ever seen, and that was including her own blue eye. His blonde hair curled around his ears and the nape of his neck, and stuck up in several places.

“Agmaer, Ancard, I need you two for a mission,” Isran said.

The Breton, Ancard, nodded and stood up. “What’s the mission?”

“I need you to go to Solstheim with Elsebet. Agmaer, you’re going to the Reach with Rune. They’ll fill you in on why on your way.”

_Wait, what_? Elsebet thought. She’d suggested having two teams so she could go with Rune to the Reach, not end up going back to Solstheim with a stranger. That wasn’t what she had in mind.

She couldn’t really say anything, though, could she? Isran didn’t know what had happened to her on Solstheim, and he probably wouldn’t believe her if she told him.”

Ancard nodded again, and moved around the table to Elsebet. “Ready to go?”

Elsebet nodded. “Yeah. Just let me find some armour.”


	6. The Island of Ash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys... sorry it's been so long. I was working a lot on my Harry Potter fic, and I had serious writer's block for months. But luckily, I think I found my mojo again, almost in time for NaNoWriMo!
> 
> _~~Jeez I've been writing this series for over two years now~~ _
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy! I don't know when I'll post the next chapter, so please, just hang in there.

“Why are we in Markarth? I thought Isran said Sorine was in the Reach?”

Rune pushed open the door to the Silver-Blood Inn with Agmaer on his tail. He looked over his shoulder at the Nord, and explained to him why they were there.

“Because we don’t know where in the Reach she is, and there’s a high possibility that she’s stopped in here at least once,” he said. “Just covering all our bases.”

Agmaer muttered, “I didn’t think of that.”

“Hey, it’s fine,” Rune said as they approached the bar. “You’ll get better at this, it just takes time.”

Agmaer didn’t say anything.

“Welcome to the Silver-Blood Inn,” the barkeep, an old Nord man, told them as they reached the bar. “How can I help you?”

“We’re looking for a woman, may have stopped in here,” Rune said. “Her name’s Sorine Jurard.”

“Yeah, I know her,” he says. “She stops by every now and again for supplies before heading out to some old Dwemer structure near Druadach Redoubt. If you have a map, I can mark it on there.”

Rune plunged his hand into his pack and pulled out his map of Skyrim, handing it to the barkeep. “That would be great, thanks.”

He did, and the two of them were back on the roads of the Reach, heading north towards Druadach Redoubt.

They got there several hours later as the sun was setting, but made sure to stay far enough back to not disturb or provoke the Forsworn. Rune had never fought a Forsworn before, but he’d heard tales. Tales mostly from Elsebet, to be honest.

They found a small Dwemer monument to the west of the redoubt, a small Breton woman fussing around it like she was looking for something. As they approached, they could hear her muttering to herself about gyros.

“Hello?” Agmaer asked as they neared.

The woman jumped, and placed a hand on her chest. “You scared me. You haven’t seen a seen a sack full of dwarven gyros, have you? I swear I left it right there,” she said, and pointed to the base of the monument. “Do you think mudcrabs might’ve taken it? I saw one the other day… Wouldn’t be surprised if it followed me here. Just look around, will you?”

“Are you Sorine Jurard?” Rune asked.

She nodded. “I am. Why?”

“Isran asked us to find you.”

She scoffed, tucking a loose strand of short brown hair behind her ear. “Isran? Wants me? You must be mistaken. He made it exceedingly clear the last time we spoke that he had no interest in my help. I find it hard to believe he’s changed his mind. He said some very hurtful things to me before I left. Anyway, I’m quite happy in my current pursuits. So if you’ll excuse me…”

She turned away and began searching for gyros again.

“You had a falling out?” Agmaer asked her.

She sighed and turned to him. “Yes, that was my point. I felt it was rather clear. Look, what is it you want from me?” 

“Vampires threaten all of Skyrim,” Rune told her. “We need your help.”

Her eyes widened. “Vampires? Really?” She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh, and I suppose now he remembers I proposed no less than three different scenarios that involved vampires overrunning the population. Well, what are they up to?”

“They have an Elder Scroll.”

Sorine’s mouth fell open in surprise. “I… Well, that’s actually something I never would’ve anticipated. Interesting. I’m not sure what they would do with one, but in this case Isran is probably correct in thinking it isn’t good.” She sighed. “All right. If nothing else, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to learn more about what’s going on so I can better defend myself. But I’m not just going to abandon what I’ve been working on here. It’s too useful. I need at least one intact dwarven gyro. So either I need to find the satchel those mudcrabs stole, or I need another gyro from someplace. You wouldn’t happen to have one, would you?”

As a matter of fact, he did. Elsebet had given it to him as a gift, originally a souvenir from her delve into one of the Dwemer ruins that dotted Solstheim, though he wasn’t sure which one it was from. Elsebet would be pissed, but she would understand the necessity.

“I do actually,” he said, and dug his hand into his pack, searching around for it. He found it at the very bottom, underneath a bunch of unused stamina potions. He pulled it out and held it out for Sorine to take. “Here, take it.”

She did, looking at it in wonder. “Thank you! It’s not much, but this will help a great deal with some things I’ve been researching. Now where is it Isran expects me to go?”

“We’re meeting at Fort Dawnguard, east of Riften.”

“Ah. Been working on his secret hideout, has he? It’ll be interesting to see how much progress he’s made. I’ll finish up here and head in that direction as soon as I can. See you there.”

* * *

Elsebet liked a lot of things. She liked heights. She liked feeling the freedom that came with being above the entire world, and the thrum of her dragon blood that craved to be in its natural element. She liked the smell of the salty ocean breeze that blew off the Sea of Ghosts and infiltrated her home in Winterhold, bringing with it the promise of adventure.

She did not, however, like sailing on its waves, the _Winter Sands_ taking her closer and closer to the island she hadn’t ever expected to go back to. She could see the edge of Solstheim on the horizon, it’s mountains jagged against the red sky caused by the ever-erupting Red Mountain in Vvardenfell, and remembered the last time she came to the island, and the friend she had brought that was no longer with her.

Though, she had a new companion, Ancard Freet. He was quiet, though not broodingly so, and didn’t understand what the island was capable of, what it had done to her and what it had taken away. All three nights they had been sailing, she had run her fingers over the scars Miraak had given her, and sobbed. She cried herself to sleep, and relived her memories in her dreams, waking up drenched in sweat.

At least the ship’s captain, the Khajiit named M’dahna, made them work during the day. It kept her mind blank, and she had a brief reprieve from the torture her mind inflicted on her.

She’d go mad if she didn’t have that break. And she was mad enough.

The last hour to the small dock town of Raven Rock went by as slow as a snail, each second that ticked by dripping with disparagement and regret. And as _The Winter Sands_ crawled into port next to _The Northern Maiden_ , she could see Second Chancellor Arano approaching the ship, looking as important and regal as he had the first time she had met him.

Kasa, a female Argonian with yellow feathers crowning her green scales, took the rope Elsebet had been holding from her and started tying it to the knobs on the side of the boat, the other crew members doing the same. Elsebet stood up straight in her Dawnguard armour, which she had gotten from an open crate on one of the battlements, and marched to Ancard’s side, planning on using him as a shield from the Dunmer.

But it was no use, as when he saw the red hair that she had recently cut to her jawline, he made a beeline towards her, and smiled wide at her.

“Welcome back, Dragonborn,” he said. “I didn’t think you were going to come back, honestly.”

“Wasn’t planning to,” she said, ignoring the wide-eyed stare Ancard was giving her. “I’m here looking for someone named Gunmar. He’s a Nord, looking for some wild animals to tame. Did he come through here?”

Second Chancellor Arano thought for a moment. “Yes, he did. I saw him talking with Geldis at the Retching Netch. You might want to ask him.”

“Thank you.”

They departed the boat, and Elsebet made her way to the Retching Netch tavern, where she had stayed on her last visit to the island.

“You’re the Dragonborn?” Ancard asked her as they walked.

“Unfortunately.”

Glover waved a dirty hand at her from where he was working the blacksmith, and she waved back at him. Soon they got to the Retching Netch, and they entered the inn. They went down the stairs into the main part of the inn, and was waved over to the counter by Geldis, the Dunmer proprietor of the tavern.

“Welcome back, Sera,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

“I need information,” she told him. “I’m looking for a Nord named Gunmar. I was told you talked to him.”

He scoffed. “Yeah, I did. He’s crazy, asked about the best ways to tame the island’s animals. Like they can be tamed.” He scoffed again. “Then he left, said he was hunting a bear. I think he was headed to Horker Island, east of Skaal village.”

She thanked him, and bought a bottle of sujamma off him. As the two of them left the building, she uncorked the bottle and took a swig of it. She held it out to Ancard. “Want some?”

“No, thank you,” he said, crinkling his nose at it. “Where’s Skaal village?”

“East side of the island,” Elsebet told him. “I got a couple friends there. If Gunmar was there, they’ll know where he went.”

They headed out of town, in the direction of Tel Mithryn, the mushroom home of Neloth, Elsebet in the lead as she knew where she was going. 

They didn’t get far outside the settlement, though, when they reached a ramshackled farm, a Redoran guard fighting off a handful of weird creatures that looked like they were made of ash. Elsebet drew her bow and fired an arrow at one of the creatures, hitting it square in the chest, angering it. It turned to her, and charged as Ancard rushed forward with his sword drawn.

She fired another arrow into its chest, and it burst into a pile of ash. Ancard swiped at another, and the Redoran guard plunged the head of his battleaxe into the one in front of him. One more arrow and all the creatures were gone.

“Thanks,” the guard said, putting away his battleaxe. “I wasn’t sure I’d make it off this farm alive. I wish I could have said the same for my man here.” He looked mournfully over at a fallen guard that was also clad in bonemold armour. “I’m Captain Veleth. Who’re you?” 

“Elsebet Dragonslayer. This is Ancard,” she said.

“What were those things?” Ancard asked, looking wearily down at the pile of ash at his feet.

“Some of the Redoran guard have taken to calling them ‘ash spawn’. Me? I don’t know what they’re called… all I know is they’re a danger to Raven Rock and they need to be stopped.”

“How did that bring you to this old farm?” Elsebet asked.

“I was going to search for clues that might lead me to wherever they’re coming from. I know it isn’t the best place to start, but we know they’ve been coming from this direction.”

“We’d be happy to lend a hand, if you need it.”

Captain Veleth looked at them gratefully. “Good, I can use all the help I can get. Besides, I don’t feel comfortable leaving Raven Rock behind, and I’d hate to lose any more Redoran Guard.”

“Where do we begin?” Ancard asked.

“We were searching the farm when the ash spawn ambushed us. Have a look around and see if you turn up anything useful.”

The three of them parted and started looking around the run-down farm. Elsebet sifted through the ashes of the ash spawn, and found a note on one of them.

“Captain, I found something,” she said, walking up to him.

He took the note and read it, his eyes narrowing more the further he read. “This is strange. The note says it’s from General Falx Carius, but that’s impossible.”

“Impossible? Why?”

He raised his eyebrows, still staring down at the note. “Well, Carius was the Imperial garrison commander at Fort Frostmoth, but he died over two hundred years ago when the Red Mountain levelled the place. There’s no way he could still be alive.”

“I’ve learned that things that look impossible aren’t so,” Elsebet said. “But what do you want us to do?”

“If General Carius is still alive, there must be something keeping him that way. I need you to head out to Fort Frostmoth and check it out. I’m going to head back to Raven Rock and prepare the men for further assaults.”

He pointed them in the direction of the fort, and Elsebet was glad that it was in the direction they needed to go to get to Skaal Village. The two of them started down the path as Captain Veloth headed back to Raven Rock.


End file.
